Let's think about what you are asking of Oregon. You are asking them to beat a team that has a player of the year qb and offensive mastermind as a coach(say what you want but the guy can coach offense) to win by 5 touchdowns or more in a game. I'm sure Malz has spent the entire summer summer preparing for this one game and I'm also sure Oregon is overlooking it. New qb for oregon and along with many other replacements. Oregon will score but so will ASU.

Not gonna lie, I may have bet that game a bit premature. I am having a bit of better's remorse. You bring up very good points. We will see how it goes.

Not trying to be critical. Just letting you know some of my process. To each his own. I will buy a 1/2 a point on spreads like 7.5 or 3.5. Usually cost ten percent so unread of 110.00 to win 100.00 it's 120.00 and even higher for a full point. I NEVER buy points on huge spreads in college. Yes it could save you if they win by exactly 36, but what are the odds of that in college with missed extra points ad frequent 2 point conversions. If the line is that big and you are worried about 1 point you shouldn't be betting the game. Only time I play a 35 point line is when I expect the favorite to score 50 and te dog to not score at all.

Its my favorite time of year again and I am as ready as anyone to jump in with both feet and hopefully win some dough while watching some awesome football.

A couple of things that Id like to mention here as we start the season that will make things go smooth. 1. Please dont use this as a chance to advertise your tout services in the thread, if your picks are good enough, people will ask you for your information. 2. Lanny (the owner of Hogville) doesnt want gambling sites posted on his site. I have exchanged a couple of PMs with him about this, but just dont do it. You wont last, and more than likely, this thread wont either. 3. No one here does this professionally, that I know of. We are not the end all be alls of sports investing by ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION. We are regular folks who like to spice up the games a little. Most of the people from last year, and this year, that Ive messaged with, have their own ways of choosing games. Most of these people are not in the habit of sharing the way they pick games. Its not being a doucher, its just like asking a fisherman where his favorite spot to fish is. We have all done this for a while, so we have our own little things we do, and also, a lot of it is just having a feel for a certain team or game. Do your own due diligence in picking games. 4. Id really like to be able to keep a record going of everyones games they pick, but last year we had so many GREAT handicappers AFTER the games were played that it was truly impossible to decipher who posted what, when, and so forth. Now, I cant enact or enforce any rules, but, seriously, you arent impressing anyone by coming in after the final whistle and telling everyone how you had such and such -7 when they won by 20 and bragging about how would have taken the line up to -30.5. As I said, no one here is a professional, so I bet a lot more games than a tout service offers. I know that, and now you know that I know that. No reason to come into the thread just to beat down the people who are trying to enjoy themselves. Everyone hates to lose and loves to win. 6. Dont be afraid to ask questions and someone will definitely answer them. We may not give you the answer you like, but as far as I know we are all honest because we could all care less what anyone thinks. [/b]

I post weighted picks, which means that I place a value system based on how "sure" I am it will hit. My units are:1* - 5% of my total bankroll2* - 10% of my bankroll3* - 20% of my bankroll5* - 50% of my bankroll

SC -6.5 @ Vandy .2*I dont have a whole lot of information and trends to back this one up, I just have a feeling that the Ole Ball Coach is going to be pressing his team to wipe out all their SEC east opponents. He knows as well as anyone that style points matter, so I dont look for him to stop scoring. On defense, I cant see USC letting Vandy doing too much. Yes, Vandy is better than they have been, but they are still Vanderbilt, one season and one recruiting class doesnt make you a contender.

Mich St -7 vs Boise St .2*This isnt the Boise St of the last couple years. Im sure Peterson has recruited well enough for there not to be a tremendous drop off of talent, but they will surely not be what they have been. Michigan St is tough and could contend for the B1G title with Wisconsin and Michigan.

Tennessee -3 @ NC State .1*This is just SEC homerism. I could easily see this one going either way, but I think Tennessee has the better athletes, and if Tyler Bray has his head screwed on correctly, he can lead a team.

Ohio +6 @ Penn St .1*Normally I wouldnt have even looked at this game, but something caught my eye. 88% of the best have been coming in on Penn St, but the line has moved 9.5 points in Ohios favor. That means some BIG money has been put on Ohio. Obviously, some of the defections from Penn St. had a bit of an influence, but overall, I dont think that is what moved it such a large margin.

Miami -2 @ BC .1*Neither of these teams are going to challenge for the ACC title, with Miami replacing Jacory Harris and BC replacing Butkus, Nagurski, Lombardi, and Lott Impact trophy winner Luke-Kuechly. I think that the team with the better athletes will come out on top, and few teams, especially in the ACC have as many good athletes as Miami.

Clemson -3 (bought .5 point) vs Auburn .2*I just dont see Auburn being good enough in the secondary to handle the challenge from Tahj Boyd. I also dont see Auburn being better than 4th in the west, but that is another story. They could just as easily rise up and beat Clemson and challenge for 3rd place in the West. I can assure that Dabo has preached and pounded into the heads of his players all off-season that this is a chance at redemption after the BEATDOWN at the hands of WV in the bowl game. No way Clemson loses this game in my opinion, and I could easily see a 7-10 point win.

Oklahoma -31 @ UTEP...2*No way Bob doesn't run it up on UTEP. This may be covered by halftime.

I agree with Will 100%. It would be great to track the season and see how everyone did. We attempted that last year, but as he said we had too many people that had tremendous weekends, but miraculously never posted their picks before the games were played. To me this doesn't count. You will get many times the " i don;t post my picks because it jinxes me and I lose when I do post them before the games." I call BS on that every time. Lets post them before they are played and try to track this sucker.

Now for some you may not care about this portion of my post, but we may have people that are new to this entire thing, and I would like to throw out a few helpful suggestions. Maybe they will help maybe they won't. I have been doing this for over 20 years and what I do works for me. Everyone is different. Some go on gut feel, some focus heavily on line movement, injuries, trends, and the list goes on and on. I try and combine everything and don't lean to heavily on any one factor. For instance I put very little value in line movement, and to many that is their strongest variable.

For football college or pro. Before the first game. Pick all your games for the day and decide and decide how much you are betting on each. If you lose an 11:00 am game a 3:00 pm game, and a 5:00 pm game when that 9:00 game comes up bet exactly what you planned to bet it in the morning. Do not try to double up your winnings or recoup your losses. If you have a bad day do not add games to your schedule if you were not planning to bet them anyway. Those things will get you killed.

Everyone has a bad day or week or even two. Do not let it drastically change your plan. If you are a 1 or 2 unit player stick with that. No matter what anyone says nobody wins all the time. I had a two week stretch last season where I would have done better flipping a coin. I just kept grinding and ended up having a great season.

If you play online. Monitor closely the site, and the government and changes in legality of offshore accounts. If you have a huge week get your winnings out of there. Leave what you started with or maybe a little more. If you are playing online stay out of the freaking casinos those sites offer.

If you are going through an individual make sure they are reliable. That also means you are probably playing on credit. Be careful you don't get yourself into a bind. Treat this like you should a trip to a casino. Expect to lose every bet, and budget accordingly. If the amount you bet could change anything in your day to day life you should not be betting it.

I personally do not play teasers. I do not buy points on any line over 10.5 If you play a 3 team parlay for say 100.00 and the first two games are in the books as a winner decide weather or not to hedge. If you put 100.00 on the opposite team in the final game at worst you break even. Best case your three teamer hits and you pocket 600.00 less the 110.00 you lost on the final game. 490.00 profit. Or you can stick to your guns and not hedge. I have done that both ways.

Hope I didn't offend anyone with those tips and suggestions. If any of them help someone great. These are simply things I have learned by trial and error. I still take my lumps sometimes too, but not at all like I did my first couple years. I learned some of those things the hard way early on.

FYI if you follow me and win congrats. If you follow me and lose don't get all butt hurt. ; )

+1 Jeff, good info. Anyone who has done this has ridden the ups and downs. I've been up $4000 after a day and a half of betting college football, and because I didn't have the dilligence and will power to back off, lost it all plus 1500 in the next 2 days of football. It's no fun, but you live, you learn.

hawgwild, your Eastern Michigan bet intrigues me. Some line movement I'm watching this week that supports your pick. I've been watching some line movement patterns since last year and this is the first game I tagged to watch this year.

Remember guys this is not a sprint. It's a marathon. Budget accordingly. You am sprint in short bursts when you are winning everything you touch, but be ready to reign it in quickly at first sign of a reversal.

I've been reading this thread and keeping up with it for awhile. Very good thread with very good advice from those that are experienced. I used to bet in the past religiously and one system I used which was very good for me was this; It was mainly NFL but went the college route every now and then; I would take 2 teams, say the Pats and Packers. Each week I would only bet them. On the line bet, never parlay in any way shape or form. I would study them throughout the week and would try to find out any info I could on them. I also would highly advise staying away from reading "free" pick advice because you could go to different sites and get very different information and picks from all of them. It will drive you crazy. Do your own research. Follow trends, watch the weather, look who they are playing the next week, etc...I used to bet quarters, halfs, who would score first, would it be a FG or TD or interception. The best advice I could give is keep it very simple. Put ZERO emotions into it. Put thought into it but not to much thought.

Just thought I would throw my .02 cents in. Good luck to all this season.

I've been reading this thread and keeping up with it for awhile. Very good thread with very good advice from those that are experienced. I used to bet in the past religiously and one system I used which was very good for me was this; It was mainly NFL but went the college route every now and then; I would take 2 teams, say the Pats and Packers. Each week I would only bet them. On the line bet, never parlay in any way shape or form. I would study them throughout the week and would try to find out any info I could on them. I also would highly advise staying away from reading "free" pick advice because you could go to different sites and get very different information and picks from all of them. It will drive you crazy. Do your own research. Follow trends, watch the weather, look who they are playing the next week, etc...I used to bet quarters, halfs, who would score first, would it be a FG or TD or interception. The best advice I could give is keep it very simple. Put ZERO emotions into it. Put thought into it but not to much thought.

Just thought I would throw my .02 cents in. Good luck to all this season.

I certainly agree with being leery of free picks. Those generally come from services that want to sell you a season package. I am still working on the development of my own site for this and can tell you as a fact!!!!!! Many of those sites give their free pick the opposite way to every other person. Example mich st -6.5. Every other person that calls or clicks half get mich st - and the other half would get Boise +. This way they insure looking brilliant to half the people that could become a paying customer. The touts way of hedging their bet.

K...so I feel the need to say I apologize to u guys. Jeff seems to indicate that I post plays after the fact and maybe I did. I don't remember making many picks last year. I had a lot going on personally that I wont delve into, but I didn't play many games and didn't watch many. I certainly do nit have the intention of appearing like a savant. I do bet real money and I do invest time, neither of which I had last year. So if it seemed like I posted records without posting plays, I am sorry. But I don't remember playing much at all and I don't wanna go back and look. So with that said, I for plan on playing this year and will post picks prior to kickoff. I do play some that I don't post here but I never expectedanybody to count anything I posted after the fact. I usually lose but I'm hoping for a turn around

K...so I feel the need to say I apologize to u guys. Jeff seems to indicate that I post plays after the fact and maybe I did. I don't remember making many picks last year. I had a lot going on personally that I wont delve into, but I didn't play many games and didn't watch many. I certainly do nit have the intention of appearing like a savant. I do bet real money and I do invest time, neither of which I had last year. So if it seemed like I posted records without posting plays, I am sorry. But I don't remember playing much at all and I don't wanna go back and look. So with that said, I for plan on playing this year and will post picks prior to kickoff. I do play some that I don't post here but I never expectedanybody to count anything I posted after the fact. I usually lose but I'm hoping for a turn around

Again, I'm sorry if I soured the apple cart.

Sir Pigs. Was not directed at you or any one poster. We had tons of that going on. Pretty sure you even made mention that you wouldn't be playing as much as you usually do and such.

Believe me it was a group effort. I assure you that you did not sour the apple cart ( never heard that one before) :0

What sites are ya'll using nowadays? I used to use Bodog about two years ago but saw they are something like Bovada?

I don'[t really use online sites. I do use one for things like a 5 dollar ten team parlay. Will PM you the name of the site. I know they pay out because I hit a ten teamer that paid 3500.00 and a 9 teamer that paid out as well. Everything else I do goes through an individual or vegas.

Thanks Jeff...sorry if it wasn't directed at me. Guess if u throw a stone at a pack a dogs, the one that's gets hit will yelp everytime. I might have been guilty of it occasionally.

But new year, new slates, new.picks, new.sportsbook. I've been with bodog for years, but am going with topbet this year. Hoping for a better year. Dabbled in NFL preseason just to whet my whistle and hone my skills.....but like the preseason, u are more.or.less working.out kinks.

BANK: 1000RECORD: 0-0-0

TONIGHT I'm going with south Carolina -7. Don't buy the hype. South Carolina is clearly the better team. While I usually like home dogs, tonight isn't the night. South Carolina has a.legit chance to win the sec. They have a vastly superior.defense and a stout running game that will give Vanderbilt trouble. Vanderbilt is being touted as turning the corner and they certainly have improved. But when u take the emotion out of it, this is an easy pick.

Hawaii vs USC: The Hawaii line has moved to +42 (up from +40 yesterday), thats a lot of points. Anyone takin hawaii to cover?

The only way I will even consider playing that game is if I have won pretty much everything leading up to it. If I was forced to bet it I would take the Rainbows plus the point, but that game is not on my radar as of now.

Public feels like wsu and the pirate will take buy to the woodshed with an air attack and 70 passes . I do expect wazu to be better but it will not start tonight. Byu will put up a ton of points on a squad that was very generous a year ago. Wazu will have trouble protecting the an and I'm not sold that breaking in a new.coach with a new system and a new.offensive philosophy will be able.to fire.on enough cylinders to.make this game.competitive. I like Byu big but beware of a Backdoor.cover if its close.

Check out Leroy's college challenge. Was bought and taken over by William Hill. I am sure many on here know that name.

May be telling you guys about it too late this season, but it's 100.00 entry fee. You pick 7 games from a pick card each Saturday. The winner each week gets 5K the season winner gets I think 50k and a trip. The cool thing is if you are willing to pay a little extra you can do it by proxy. That way you don't have to be there to make your picks each week.

K...so I feel the need to say I apologize to u guys. Jeff seems to indicate that I post plays after the fact and maybe I did. I don't remember making many picks last year. I had a lot going on personally that I wont delve into, but I didn't play many games and didn't watch many. I certainly do nit have the intention of appearing like a savant. I do bet real money and I do invest time, neither of which I had last year. So if it seemed like I posted records without posting plays, I am sorry. But I don't remember playing much at all and I don't wanna go back and look. So with that said, I for plan on playing this year and will post picks prior to kickoff. I do play some that I don't post here but I never expectedanybody to count anything I posted after the fact. I usually lose but I'm hoping for a turn around

Again, I'm sorry if I soured the apple cart.

It was more than any one person. It didn't really ruin anything, there was just no way to keep up with the record. It was more of an annoyance than a major problem. This year, I would like to be able to track people.

It was more than any one person. It didn't really ruin anything, there was just no way to keep up with the record. It was more of an annoyance than a major problem. This year, I would like to be able to track people.

Agreed. I don't care to go thru all the pages, so I don't remember who it was, but some person last year was posting their bets well after the games were over, and they were supposedly knocking the cover off the ball...stuff like 11-1 every weekend.

If I forget to post my bets on HV before a game goes off, I won't post it at all. Actually, I will mention the bet if I lost, but not if I won.

Not saying I'm putting anything down...but I like the Hawaii pick. 45 points is hard to cover against a high school team. First you have to actually score 45 points. Which isn't just a sneeze. Then u have to pretty much shut the other team out. I'm not saying its not.doable, but its a very large spread to.cover.

Good luck. A parlay is like the worst game in Vegas...Roulette. How much did you bet and what was the payout if won?

im just playin small change, 10 a game, im in college so im not risking houndreds of dollars or nuthin. i would say this is like my 5th parlay ever. this is gonna be my indication of how my season will go lol

For posterity sake, I put money on Ark over 8.5 wins this year. Easy bet in '11, and have us going 9-3 this season, so why not.

I think you win this by at least a game and a half.

On the Hawaii game, I had a wise man once tell me he bet every game over a 45 point spread. Said it was way to hard to score more than 45, and even harder to hold the other team after you have scored 45. If I had a gun to my head, I would bet Hawaii, but USC, especially with Lane Kiffen, could put up 65 in most games.